A Comparative Study Of Taoist Cultural Translation In Xi You Ji From The Perspective Of Cultural Ecology

Xi You Ji, one of the four great classics in Chinese literature is regarded as the peak representative of the ancient Chinese novels. It depicts the three religious worlds of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, which contains abundant traditional religious cultures. With the rapid economic globalization and frequent cross-cultural communication, the traditional Chinese cultures and national image in the novel have attracted many researchers and translators, many of them try to learn Chinese culture and spread them to the world through translating the novel to other languages. Due to the different cultural ecology and the translators’ culture orientation between China and the west, the traditional Taoist cultural translations in Xi You Ji are often misinterpreted. The native indigenous Taoist cultures of Chinese nation have been adapted to a western foreign culture, which plays a negative role in the inheritance and spreading of the Chinese cultures to the world.The Taoist culture is an indigenous traditional culture in China, How to carry down the essence of the traditional Chinese Taoist culture while keeping a harmonious balance between the Chinese and western cultures in the translating process will be the focus of this thesis. Therefore, the translation of the traditional Taoist culture in Xi You Ji plays a significant role in the ethnic cultural heritage and national identity in the international community. Furthermore, the study of Taoist cultural translation in Xi You Ji will also be helpful for those scholars who come from different cultural background to better learn the traditional Chinese Taoist culture. This thesis will discuss how to completely convey the Taoist culture in Xi You Ji while keeping a harmonious balance between the Chinese and western culture in the Taoist cultural translating process from the perspective of cultural ecology.A further discussion will be hold to analyze the influences of the different cultural ecology and the translators’ cultural orientation on the Taoist cultural translation of Xi You Ji from Nide’s five cultural classifications, namely, the ecological culture, material culture, social culture, linguistic culture and religious culture.The author choose the most complete versions among the seven English versions of Xi You Ji for a comparative study, that is, the famous British sinologist W. J. F Jenner’s Journey to the West and the notable Chinese scholar Anthony C.Yu’s The Journey to the West. The author will compare the two complete English versions and identify the cultural factors that influence the difference.The author has selected the character names related to Taoist culture and the Taoist cultural words which embodies in the poem in the novel Xi You Ji for comparative study. The author then makes a detailed explanation for the Taoist cultural translation from their respective ecological culture, material culture, social culture, linguistic culture and religious culture, and the translators’ different cultural orientation will also be analyzed for the rendition of Chinese Taoist culture.By a comparative analysis, the author finds out that, when translating the traditional Taoist culture, Jenner inclines to make literal translation which fully conveys the Taoist culture, but it may brings trouble for those western learners who are not quite familiar with Chinese cultures. Comparatively speaking, Yu makes a more faithful and clearer translation by adopting the amplification method which not only completely convey the Taoist cultural elements, but also keep a balance between the Chinese and western culture. On one hand, Yu makes a detailed Taoist culture background attached to his translation that has enrich his translation and makes the western readers get more accessible to the Taoist cultural background. On the other hand, it has helped enhance spreading the traditional Taoist cultures to the western world.After a comparative study of the Taoist cultural translation in Xi You Ji between Yu and Jenner, the author finally concludes that, in the process of the Chinese Taoist cultural translation, the translators should keep a balanced and positive cultural ecological system and make efforts in the following two aspects; firstly, translators have to integrate the eastern and western cultures and put them in a united system. In the translating process between the east and west, the translators have to make two cultures in a complimentary position so as to reflect the cultural richness and diversity in a global cultural ecological system. When rendering the Chinese Taoist culture to the west, the translators should provide more detailed Taoist background information combined with the western culture to facilitate the western reader’s reading and understanding of the Chinese Taoist culture. Secondly, the translators should pay attention to the sustainable development of cultural ecology and try to avoid the cultural imbalance in cultural ecology. In the translating process, the translators should take a harmonious, positive and healthy translation attitude; try to avoid emphasizing one cultural transmission and ignoring the other culture in order to resist the cultural imperialism phenomenon.